Tuesday 8th November 2022

This week across the country, and many places across the world, we stop to remember. You may have noticed people out and about wearing poppies. Poppies are used as a sign to remember. This season of remembrance builds up to our big day of remembrance this Sunday, which we call Remembrance Sunday. So what are we remembering?

On Remembrance Sunday we remember all the people who fought and died in the two world wars, and every war. We remember how they went to war and gave their lives to protect others. It is sad and devastating to think about people dying. But the truth is war is a very sad thing, and it leads to us losing a lot of people. Friends and family, neighbours and people we know. It tears a great rip through lives. 

This kind of loss is hard to think of, and to help us remember, I want to read you these words that Jesus said.

‘My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. The greatest love you can have for your friends is to give your life for them. And you are my friends if you do what I command you.’ – John 15:12-14. 

Jesus tells us to love one another as Jesus loves us. He says that the greatest kind of love is to give your life for your friends. To give your life for a friend, in death and in life, is the greatest kind of love there is. It is a love that doesn’t think about yourself but thinks about others.

It is the kind of love that Jesus showed us when he died on the cross for us. It is the love of the people who go off to fight in a war to protect their family and friends; to protect their neighbours and the people they know.

We have heard about this kind of love being shown in the war in Ukraine. People are fighting and giving their lives to protect their families, friends and communities.

It is a great love, and Jesus asks us to love like this, the way he loves us. That doesn’t mean we all are to go and fight in a war, but it does mean that we should love in a way that puts others first. This is what friends and family do for each other: they put the other person first. This is the greatest kind of love.

On Remembrance Sunday, we remember people who loved others first. We give thanks to God for their love and sacrifice, and we think about how we can stop wars in the future. We think of how we can seek to love others instead of hating them.

This week, on Friday and Sunday, we will stop to hold silence. And in the silence and quiet, we reflect upon and remember the love of those who have died in wars. And we remember that 2000 years ago, Jesus died for us, his friends. And in Jesus’ death and resurrection, we share in his gift of eternal life. And we remember that death is not the final step for us, for soldiers, for anyone; because of Jesus, there is hope for life beyond death. Thanks be to God.